Denver-based barbershop franchise celebrates 25 years, more than 140 locations

Denver-based Floyd's 99 Barbershop is celebrating 25 years in business after opening its first shop at East 11th Avenue and Broadway. The company has now expanded to more than 140 stores across the nation, and its success is a far cry from the humble beginnings. 

Floyd's — where a rock 'n' roll-themed shop meets a name inspired by "The Andy Griffith Show." 

"A little bit of a connection to Floyd the barber from 'The Andy Griffith Show,'" co-founder Paul O'Brien told CBS Colorado. "That was like an old school name, and we just kind of threw a lot of different things around, and that kind of stuck really early on."

The story behind its launch is just as interesting.

"When the Colorado Rockies came to Denver, we were working with our other business, our concession business," O'Brien said. "We were working in Baltimore, so we were given the opportunity to come to Denver when the Rockies showed up."

O'Brien has a background in the food and beverage industry, and, years later, he and his brothers decided to diversify their entrepreneurial footprint. 

"We were not in the hair business at that time, so we really don't know if this is going to work or not," O'Brien said.

Spoiler alert: It did. But it wasn't easy. 

"I ran the front desk, answer phones," Amy Hunn said. "We didn't do as many appointments. It was a lot of walk-in business. We did not have a computer system. It was like handwritten, sign your name on a book. It was hand counting tickets at the end of the night to figure out how many haircuts we did and who did how many haircuts and then filling out a large document. So that was always interesting."

"At the home office, we didn't have anybody that was actually licensed working for us, so we were all unlicensed," Peter Vercellin explained. "So we were learning the industry right along, you know, as these shops were opening."

Vercellin and Hunn were some of Floyd's first employees. Hunn is now an executive with the company.

"She's been very involved in the buildout, the design of most of our shops," O'Brien said.

Vercellin is now a franchisee. The shop we filmed at in Parker is his. 

"We were a startup, and to have a seat at the table early on, help make great decisions, it's quite the story," Vercellin said. "You know, if I wrote a book, believe me, people would read it."